Musicals made me do it

 If it hasn't become painfully obvious by now, outside of my obsession with musicals, I had a very strong obsession with reading and literature. In fact, in the ninth grade we studied the Odyssey, which funnily enough, kickstarted my obsession with the literature side of language and literature, something that may have changed my entire high school career. Despite this, I actually despised this book when I first tried reading it. I found it quite boring and decided I'd simply throw it away and never read it. After all, I had gotten away with not reading the books for almost every year of middle school, so I decided this year didn't have to be different. However, my tune would soon change when I kept hearing the same song on my reels.  "Nah don't be modest I know you're a Goddess, so let's be honest you are Athena."  This song was super catchy, the way he sang Athena scratched an itch in my brain perfectly, as the kids would say. I wanted to hear more, ...

 Look, I get it, it's hilarious to imagine Clivesdale as a normal quaint little town that has no idea about the one-sided animosity between them and their neighbors. In fact, that is what I chose to believe, until I realized something strange. This is that, despite appearing overdramatic, the citizens of Hatchetfield don’t often exaggerate. When characters say something, even if at first it appears to be a hyperbole, it is usually even more true than we could ever imagine. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let's first dive into what Clivesdale and Hatchetfield even is. The Hatchetfield universe is a fictional town invented by Nick and Matt Lang for their musicals performed by Team Starkid. We've talked about Starkid before on this blog, it's possibly one of the longest sub-phases I've ever been in. This town is located on an island in Michigan, connected via the Nantucket bridge to another nearby town, Clivesdale. Hatchetfield is extremely prone to dis...

  a little snapshot of my very normal and very sane diary entry of the day forever etched into my memory Okay so I've been beating around the bush for quite a while about what I would consider the best day of my life. Before I jump into this, allow me to just say that one of the best days of my life was July 17th, the day my father forced me to watch Hamilton and I was forever entrenched in the beautiful world of musical theatre. However, there is another day, a day upon which I already knew would go down in the history books, a day that I had spent months preparing for, and would spend years missing. The Eras Tour.  If you've been living under a rock somehow, The Eras Tour is a tour done by our lord and savior, Time Person of the year 2023, Queen of pop music, Taylor Swift. Due to her releasing numerous albums during the Plague of 2020, she decided she no longer wanted to do individual tours for each albums, instead crafting the Eras Tour, a three hour show dedicated to each ...

 My heart's been stolen, my ego swollen, I just keep rolling along 5 years ago on this day (17th July) I watched Hamilton for the very first time. I hated it, yes I know it's hard to believe. In fact, halfway through I wanted to get up and leave, but my father forced me into sitting down and watching the rest of it. Well, the rest is history (has its eyes on you). But, I digress, I'm not here to talk about Hamilton for the third time (although I am writing another draft regarding Hamilton as we speak), I'm here to tell you about another musical.  The Last Five Years is an Off-Broadway show turned movie written by Jason Robert Brown. It follows the story of a couple, very heavily based on Jason's relationship with his ex wife, Theresa O'Neill. The story is told in a strange way, with Cathy (the wife, based on O'Neill) beginning her story at the end of their marriage, and Jamie, her husband, beginning somewhere towards the start of their relationship. These tw...

  STAY WITH ME ON THIS PLEASE Okay hear me out guys, I promise that I'm not trying to be some kinda Sigma Male when I say that I am literally Patrick Bateman. No, I don't languish over my business card, I don't work on wall street (heaven knows I should never be trusted with any sort of finance job unless you want another financial crisis), and I most definitely don't murder women. That being said, me and the main character of American Psycho do have one thing in common, an obsession with the musical Les Misérables.  I saw Les Misérables live in London on June 20th 2024. If you're wondering how I just have that date stored in my memory, it's because it was only a two days before the Best Day of my life (I'm not being nonchalant I promise I'll write about it next). For some background information, Les Misérables is a musical based on the French book of the same name written by Victor Hugo. It follows an ensemble of people during the June Rebellion (It hap...

 Hey... recognize this art style? I'm Anya Shenoy, and I'm here to tell you that you have rights. If you recognize this art style, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Okay, if you don't, first of all I'm jealous of you, but this is basically a tumblr fan drawing of John Laurens by the same artist who drew the infamous "Thomas Jefferson Miku Binder". Now, if those words mean nothing to you I will attach an image below, feel free to shut your eyes if you don't want to relive the trauma of seeing it for the first time. But I'm not writing this to make fun of a garbage fan art that was made 10 years ago, I'm writing this to discuss the impact that Hamilton had on the way we view real historical figures.  The Man, The Myth, The LEGEND When  Hamilton: An American Musical  exploded into mainstream popularity after its 2015 debut, it did more than just bring hip-hop to Broadway or make theatre kids start rapping about the Federalist Papers, it ...

Unfortunately for all my fellow constantly anxious readers, this post is not a how-to guide for handling stress, it's a desperate rant begging you to understand my undying love and affection for the 2015 off-Broadway production of Be More Chill . Be More Chill is a musical adaptation of Ned Vizzini's novel of the same name. It features original music and lyrics by Joe Iconis and a book by Joe Tracz. The musical premiered at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 2015. It then transferred off-Broadway in 2018 and, after building a cult following online, landed a Broadway run at the Lyceum Theatre in 2019. While its time on the Great White Way was brief, its impact on fans, especially younger ones, was long-lasting and deeply emotional. Be More Chill (BMC for short) is a sci-fi teen musical centered around Jeremy Heere, an anxious high school student desperate to climb the social ladder and win the affection of his classmate, Christine Canigula (dream role, if you ev...